Interesting question about Matthew 12:40

mrcoptic

Following was taken from www.biblegateway.com



    Matthew 12:40 (New King James Version)
    New King James Version (NKJV)
    Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.

    40 For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish,
    so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.



We know that this is referring to Christ's descending into Hades after being crucified.  But the words:

          "the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth."

seem to imply that Christ was physically residing at the earth's core where we know (from geothermal studdies) is full of molten lava and so forth.



It should also be mentioned (I may be wrong) that this statement was written/uttered before conclusions concerning what resides beneath the earth's crust were made.

But Hell is a spiritual place as opposed to a physical place;  Is there a more spiritual or symbolic reference being made by this verse?

Holmes

[coptic]+ Iryny nem `hmot>[/coptic]

Perhaps I'm just stating the obvious, but I always took the phrase 'heart of the earth' to just simply be a reference to the tomb.

Unknown

Cephas is correct. I don't think a spiritual meaning was intended? We use metaphors daily; we shouldn't expect Christ not to use the same language devices.

mrcoptic

[quote author=Κηφᾶς link=topic=5761.msg77099#msg77099 date=1190119718]
[coptic]+ Iryny nem `hmot>[/coptic]

Perhaps I'm just stating the obvious, but I always took the phrase 'heart of the earth' to just simply be a reference to the tomb.


Silly me!!! Of course, that makes more sense now!  ;D